Cops move collector for IPL dues

The Navi Mumbai police has requested the Thane collector to take necessary steps to recover around Rs10.50 crore payment due from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), for security provided for Indian Premier League matches at the DY Patil stadium in 2010 and 2011.

Fed up of the deaf ear given by the BCCI to repeated reminders about the payment due, AR Morale, deputy commissioner of police, has written a letter to the collectorate to take action under relevant sections of the revenue code.

According to Santosh Pachlag, who had filed a public interest litigation in the Bombay High Court, the collectorate may consider attaching properties of the IPL in different parts of the city to recover the amount due. Thane collector P Velarasu was not available for comment.

The payment includes Rs6.23 crore for the security arrangements for six IPL matches played at the DY Patil stadium in Nerul in the 2010 season and Rs4.72 crore due for the seven matches played in 2011.

Of this amount due, the BCCI paid only Rs47.53 lakh, saying that it had paid only this much to the police in Nagpur for the matches there and hence would not pay more. Navi Mumbai police have yet to receive the remainder Rs10.48 crore.

Subsequently, the Navi Mumbai unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party had warned that it would not allow any further matches to be played in the satellite city till the BCCI paid the dues. Not a single IPL match was given to DY Patil stadium in the 2012 IPL season.

“An event like the IPL adds to the burden of the police force that is short staffed,” said Pachlag. “And common citizens are inconvenienced as they have to wait longer to get the police to attend to their complaints as a large number of personnel are occupied with security for the match. But the BCCI, which is raking in the moolah, will not settle the payment for security.”